1. TRC, Law Schools, Libraries and Indigenous peoples.
Deborah McGregor

2. Overview Acknowledgements Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
Calls to Action
What are examples of Law Schools and Reconciliation
Role of Libraries

3. What was the TRC? The mandate of the TRC was to:
Reveal to Canadians the complex truth about the history and the ongoing legacy of the church-run residential schools, in a manner that fully documents the individual and collective harms perpetrated against Aboriginal peoples, and honours the resil­ ience and courage of former students, their families, and communities; and
Guide and inspire a process of truth and healing, leading toward reconciliation within Aboriginal families, and between Aboriginal peoples and non- Aboriginal communi­ties, churches, governments, and Canadians generally. The process was to work to renew relationships on a basis of inclusion, mutual understanding, and respect. (TRC 2015a, 27)

4. Findings
The TRC’s main finding reveals that the basis for the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples for over a century was the eradication of Indigenous peoples.
This was to be achieved through a suite of colonial policies, including the residential school systems.

5. Cultural Geoncide
The Truth
Spanish Residential School

6. Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996)
The conversations being raised here are not new.
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) in 1996 called the existing body of research into question, stating that it should be “open to reassessment.”
Indeed, RCAP’s major finding, that “The main policy direction, pursued for more than 150 years, first by colonial then by Canadian governments, has been wrong”, points to the fact that whatever information/data/knowledge was relied upon to devise policies, laws, and practices in this country over that time period was devastatingly flawed at its core, regardless of its original intention

7. The TRC found that:
The closing of the schools did not bring the residential school story to an end. Their legacy continues to this day. It is reflected in the significant disparities in education, income, and health between Aboriginal people and other Canadians—disparities that condemn many Aboriginal people to shorter, poorer, and more troubled lives. The legacy is also reflected in the intense racism and the systemic discrimination Aboriginal people regularly experience in this country....The beliefs and attitudes that were used to justify the establishment of residential schools are not things of the past: they continue to animate official Aboriginal policy today. (TRC 2015b, )

8. Implications
What kind of knowledge is collected and mobilized in academic institutions?
What is missing?
What kind of “truth” is required?
How to support a different narrative?
How to support students, faculty, staff?
How to support continuing education?

9. Creating Space for Stories

10. Residential School in Spanish

11. What is Reconciliation?
The TRC defines “reconciliation” as an “ongoing process of establishing and maintaining respectful relationships” (TRC, what we learned, 121)
Reconciliation is a process of healing of relationships that requires public truth sharing, apology, and commemoration that acknowledge and redress past harms. (Principle # 3)
A Verb
Earth

12. CTA # 28
We call upon law schools in Canada to require all law students to take a course in Aboriginal people and the law, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations.
This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and antiracism.

13. CTA # 27
We call upon the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to ensure that lawyers receive appropriate cultural competency training, which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal–Crown relations.
This will require skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.

14. Reconciliation: CTA #45
Reconcile Aboriginal and Crown constitutional and legal orders to ensure that Aboriginal peoples are full partners in Confederation, including the recognition and integration of Indigenous laws and legal traditions in negotiation and implementation processes involving Treaties, land claims, and other constructive agreements.

15. Principle # 7
The perspectives and understandings of Aboriginal Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers of the ethics, concepts, and practices of reconciliation are vital to long-term reconciliation

16. Principle # 8
Aboriginal peoples’ cultural revitalization and Indigenous knowledge systems, oral histories, laws, protocols, and connections to the land into the reconciliation process are essential.

17. Principle # 9
Supporting Aboriginal peoples’ cultural revitalization and integrating Indigenous knowledge systems, oral histories, laws, protocols, and connections to the land into the reconciliation process are essential.
Languages

18. “Law is all around us” (Craft 2014)

19. Indigenous Justice and Law
Drawing on Indigenous laws/legal orders (how do we seek harmony? Why?)
We need other ways to seek justice
Responsibilities at the heart of Anishinaabe legal structure” (Craft 2014)
Law is about living it and sharing it”
Water Laws

20. TRC & Indigenous laws
These traditions and practices are the foundation of Indigenous law: they contain wisdom and practical guidance for moving toward reconciliation across the land
Indigenous peoples have approaches (laws) that can resolve conflict, repair harm, and restore relationships (Honoring the truth)

21. Knowledge Needs at Law Schools
It Is not just knowledge, but also respecting and creating a safe space for such knowledge to flourish
AND for knowledge keepers to flourish
Elders

22. Reconciliation Research
Recommendation 65 (TRC 2015c, 9):
Research is vital to reconciliation. It provides insights and practical examples of why and how educating Canadians about the diverse concepts, principles, and practices of rec­onciliation contributes to healing and transformative social change.
The benefits of research extend beyond addressing the legacy of residential schools. Research on the reconciliation process can inform how Canadian society can mitigate intercultural conflicts, strengthen civic trust, and build social capacity and practical skills for long-term reconciliation. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples have an especially strong contribution to make to this work.

23. CTA # 65 UBC-Reconciliation
Research partnerships between universities and communities or organizations are fruitful collaborations and can provide the necessary structure to document, analyze, and report research findings on reconciliation to a broader audience.
UBC-Reconciliation

24. Indigenous journals In addition to Indigenous law journals
International Indigenous Policy Journal
Indigenous Policy Journal
American Indian Quarterly
Canadian Journal of Native Studies
AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples
American Indian culture and research journal

25. Making Space
Treaty Canoe
IEJ Symposium and Art

26. Wampum Belts

27. Art
Constitution
MSU-Indigenous law

28. Testify: A Project of the Indigenous Laws + the Arts Collective

29. Relationships
MMIWG
Or Not

30. Careful of Terminology
Indian
Native
Aboriginal
First Nation, Inuit and Metis
Indigenous

31. Miigwech